Women's Cross Country

BOSTON, Mass. - The MIT women's cross country
team entered this weekend with its highest national ranking in
program history, as it rose to no. four in all of Division III.
Competing against the tops teams in New England from across all
Divisions, the Engineers more than lived up to their poll position,
finishing fourth as a team. Jacqui Wentz led the way for the
Cardinal and Grey with a third-place finish, the best individual
result in Institute history at the All-New England Meet.

A pair of Division I runners were the only competitors to
complete the Franklin Park course faster than Wentz, who set a new
program standard at the Engineers' home venue with her time of
18:06. Maria Monks also landed in the top 20, just the fifth such
occurrence for MIT, with a time of 18:24. Alina Gatowski (18:48)
finished 47th overall. A pair of freshman were the final scoring
harriers for Tech, as Melissa Showers (19:01) came home in 63rd and
Brooke Johnson (84th) broke the tape in
19:17.

The Cardinal and Grey totaled 217 points for the best team
result ever in this meet. The Engineers' previous best was a
sixth-place showing in 2007. Brown won the meet with 130 points.

MIT will be back in action next weekend at the Plansky
Invitational at Williams College on Saturday, October 17.